The present invention relates to a dispenser for discharging fluent, finely-divided or liquid material from a tight or substantially tight package Portioning dispensers connected to packages are previously known in a number of different designs. One example of such a prior art dispenser is disclosed in Swedish Registered Design No. 34 484.
In many types of material, both pulverous and liquid, it is vital that no foreign matter penetrates the package to contaminate the material. For this reason, use is made of, for instance, glass jars with diffusion-tight connected lids for the storage of ground coffee in order that the oxygen of the air does not oxidize and thereby mar the flavor of the coffee before the package proper is broken. Hence, packages may be rendered quite diffusion tight, for example by making them of glass, aluminum foil or some other diffusion-tight material.
The weak link in dosage-dispensing packages is the dispenser itself, since this may, by diffusion, let in ambient gases and/or liquids, either directly through the material from which the dispenser is manufactured, or through those apertures, slots, gaps, etc. which are present in the dispenser.
A package containing material of the type contemplated here is normally kept and stored for a relatively lengthy period of time before the package is opened, the material contained therein subsequently being consumed during a relatively short time.
Consequently, considerable progress would be made--in relation to the prior art--if a package with a dispenser and with material in the package were, during storage and transport to the consumer, to be diffusion-tight and, in particular, to be gas diffusion-tight.
Dispensers of the above-described type require some form of device which is accessible exteriorly for operating, for example, a knob to advance compartments with a measured amount of material one at a time to discharge the material from the package. Unintentional operation of the knob by, for example, handling filling, or manual picking however, may run the risk of jeopardizing the diffusion tightness of the package.